Daily Tax News

Timing

Labor's tax launch is to occur this Thursday, 27 August, during the day. At this stage details as to how it will be released are not available.

Tax credits

Some details as to the contents have been leaked. There will be tax credits for middle and low income earners, which apparently will be designed in such a way that they do not flow through to upper income earners. This will cause high marginal rates for a group in the upper middle of earners, unless the top rate is increased.

Wholesale sales tax - food items

Also there is the intention of getting rid of wholesale sales tax on some food items. While this is politically attractive, this will make the WST base even narrower than it is, causing concern about the sustainability of the indirect tax base in Australia.